A gentle surrender to life’s great unknown
From the first soft notes of Let the Mystery Be, we sense the comforting wisdom of not having all the answers.
I’d like to introduce you to Let the Mystery Be, a song by the remarkable American singer‑songwriter Iris DeMent, which opens her debut album Infamous Angel (released in October 1992).
While the track did not make a substantial impact on major pop or Billboard charts (no documented high chart position), its resonance was felt deeply among the folk and Americana community, and over time it gained recognition as one of those ‘quiet classics’ that age like fine wine. Indeed, the song was later included in the list of 200 Greatest Country Songs by the magazine Rolling Stone, marking its enduring legacy.
The story behind the song
Iris DeMent wrote Let the Mystery Be and placed it as the opening track of her debut album—a deliberate choice, as if to invite the listener right away into her world of contemplation. She grew up in Arkansas, the youngest of fourteen children, and her musical voice carries the hallmarks of gospel, folk and country roots.
The lyrics reflect generations of people who’ve asked the grand questions: “Where did we come from? Where are we going when the whole thing’s done?” The opening lines—“Everybody is wondering what and where they all came from / Everybody is worrying ’bout where they’re gonna go when the whole thing’s done” —are like a grandmother’s gentle whisper, reminding us that these questions are older than us and older than our age.
Iris doesn’t pretend to have the answers. Instead, she says simply: “But no one knows for certain and so it’s all the same to me / I think I’ll just let the mystery be.” Through this refrain we sense the maturity of someone who has lived long enough to know that some things aren’t meant to be fixed, but rather embraced.
Meaning of the song
For mature listeners especially, the song offers a kind of solace. It acknowledges uncertainty—about the afterlife, about meaning, about faith—and yet turns that uncertainty into something peaceful rather than terrifying. I think of the lines: “Some say once you’re gone you’re gone forever and some say you’re gonna come back… Some say they’re coming back in a garden bunch of carrots and little sweet peas.” The whimsical image of “carrots and little sweet peas” is not meant to mock belief, but gently to show how we humans fill the unknown with what we know—gardens, vegetables, home.
What makes the song especially moving is its deep compassion. It doesn’t judge one path over another; it simply sets aside the noise of certainty and sits quietly with the mystery. For those of us who have witnessed enough farewells, enough seasons passing, that is perhaps a radical act: to allow things unfinished, to rest easy with the unknowing.
Significance and accompanying information
Though Let the Mystery Be didn’t become a pop‑chart monster, it has become a standard of sorts within folk and Americana circles and has been covered by other artists.Moreover, it has found new life in modern culture—in one version of the TV series The Leftovers the song appeared as a theme in later seasons, giving it a haunting resonance for those who watched the show.
Iris’s debut album, Infamous Angel, is by all accounts a quiet masterpiece—full of humility, full of questions, full of songs that shine precisely because they don’t try to dazzle with bravado. Let the Mystery Be sets the tone, not with fireworks, but with a lantern placed gently in the window.
And so, to the listener who has lived long enough to know that life seldom hands us neat bows: this song comes as a companion. It says: you’ve done your best, you loved, you lost, you asked your questions—now you can lean back and let the mystery be. The answers may come, or they may not—but you’re still here, and your life still sings.